


ghost hunting, and other bad first date ideas

by mimiwrites



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Blood, Body Horror, Demons, Getting Together, Ghost Hunters, Horror, M/M, Mentions of Murder, Mentions of Suicide, Minor Akaashi Keiji/Iwaizumi Hajime, Paranormal, Some Humor, Suspense, lots of flirting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-26
Updated: 2020-07-26
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:40:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25454065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mimiwrites/pseuds/mimiwrites
Summary: Oikawa is a paranormal researcher. He’s heard a lot about the old Ohashi Inn, and how it was cursed with demonic entities. Oikawa had to see it for himself, but what he did not expect to find was a flirty receptionist who under no circumstances believed in ghosts. At least, not initially.A story of ghost hunter Oikawa bringing Kuroo on an adventure that neither of them will ever forget.
Relationships: Kuroo Tetsurou/Oikawa Tooru
Comments: 55
Kudos: 137





	ghost hunting, and other bad first date ideas

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Seesaws](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Seesaws/gifts).



> happy birthday siru! i know this is late, but blame oikawa, he demanded i write him the longest fic i’ve attempted to date.
> 
> yūrei - ghost  
> onryō - wrathful, vengeful spirit

As Oikawa stood in front of the decrepit building, he could feel in his bones that this one was different. Unlike so many of his recent investigations, this one was the real deal. He didn’t have anything to back it up, just a gut feeling. But he knew that by the end of his stay here, he would have all the evidence he needed. 

The building was three stories tall, built sometime during the late Edo period. It used to be the household of the Ohashi clan, but was now being used as an inn. The shingles on the roof were falling away, and the wood paneling looked like it was residence to termites. 

Walking inside, Oikawa was immediately greeted with the scent of mothballs. The place itself wasn’t actually that dusty, but the age of it was overpowering. The candles lit on the imperial console table near the door did little to cover the smell. Calling it rustic was perhaps a little too generous. 

On the walls, there was an array of family pictures, ranging in age of when they were taken. The oldest ones were probably when the camera was first invented, the most recent being from sometime in possibly the late nineties. He noticed, with peculiarity, that in no picture did anyone smile. 

To the right he could see a small room with bookshelves on nearly every inch of wall. If he squinted, he could just make out the little trinkets that embellished some of the shelves. An urge overcame him then, and he wanted nothing more than to go inside that room and look at every single one. 

Someone clearing their throat broke him out of his thoughts. He whirled around to find a man with unruly black hair smirking back at him. Oikawa took in his face, which was resting on one of the man’s hands. He couldn’t find anything sinister or ominous about it, as one might expect at a haunted inn, but quite the opposite. As Oikawa got carried away observing how handsome he was, the guy shot his eyebrows up in amusement. 

“Can I help you?” the man asked, cheeky and irritating and only a little alluring. 

“Yes,” Oikawa said quickly, stepping towards the desk. “I’m here to check in a room, I called earlier.”

The man hummed and opened up a large, leather bound book. 

“Name?”

“Oikawa Tooru.”

He began searching the page to find his name, squinting at someone’s terrible penmanship. 

“Sorry,” the man said, bringing a desk lamp closer. “I keep begging to get a computer in here, but the old lady doesn’t wanna spend the cash.”

“Do you mean Ohashi Chiyo?” Oikawa asked. 

“Yeah, she owns the place. Do you know her?”

Oikawa shook his head. “No, honestly I don't know much about her.”

The receptionist looked at him curiously, then went back to the book. 

“Ah, here you are. You’re staying here the rest of the week? What are you in town for?” he asked. 

“Business,” Oikawa smiled. The way he said it must have piqued the man’s curiosity, because he grinned back like he didn’t believe him for a second. 

“I’m Tetsurou, by the way,” he said smoothly. 

“Ohashi…?” Oikawa asked, hoping to get as much information about the family that owned the inn as possible. 

“Kuroo,” he replied. “I’m not related to Chiyo-san, she’s just an old friend of the family.”

“Ah, I see,” Oikawa said politely, trying to not seem too disappointed. “You don’t seem the receptionist type.”

He meant it as a compliment, he really did. Kuroo’s eyebrow hitched in confusion. 

“Oh? Why’s that?”

“The chemistry notes on your desk,” Oikawa replied, pointing to the stack of papers and books by Kuroo’s side. “Lab work?”

Kuroo blinked at him, perhaps in awe. “Yeah…” he mumbled. “During the days I work an internship at a lab for my grad program. This is just a side job so I can afford to eat.”

“When do you have time to sleep?”

“I don’t,” Kuroo laughed. 

“What about having fun?” Oikawa smiled. 

“Oh,” Kuroo practically purred. “I know all about that.”

“Anything fun around here?” He was hoping Kuroo would say something about the ghosts. 

“Other than me?” Kuroo said instead. 

“Wow, a chem nerd who knows how to party? Now I've seen it all.”

Kuroo laughed, and Oikawa couldn’t help but giggle along with him. There was something about this guy, something different. Kuroo looked at him closely, like he too was trying to figure him out. Now it was Oikawa who had the upper hand. 

“So, can you help me?” he asked playfully. Kuroo grinned and shook his head. 

“Yeah, let me just grab your room key,” Kuroo said, glancing back at the pages before him. “Looks like you’ll be in Room…” He paused, looked up at Oikawa, then back to the page, and repeated the motion twice. “Four.”

“Is there a problem?” Oikawa asked innocently. 

“No…” Kuroo said quietly before shaking his head again. “No. Nevermind.” He swiveled in his chair and rolled over to the key hook, grabbing the one labeled with a 4, and returned. “It’s up the stairs, top floor, on the left.”

“Thanks,” Oikawa said, taking the key from him. “By the way, have you ever seen anything out of the ordinary here?”

Kuroo sighed. “I should have known. You’re one of those.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Oikawa accused. 

“One of those ghost hunters!” Kuroo laughed. “They come through here every so often, usually with more people. Where’s the rest of your team?”

“I work alone.”

A memory threatened to break through Oikawa’s mind, but he pushed it away. 

“Well, I can't say you’ll find anything,” Kuroo sighed. 

“No?”

“Look,” Kuroo ran his hand through his hair, and Oikawa was almost sure it was just to distract him. “I've worked here for two years, and I haven’t seen any ghosts, or demons, or whatever else. It’s an old building, it makes noises, it gets drafty, that doesn’t mean it’s paranormal.”

“Spoken like a true man of science,” Oikawa teased. 

“Hey, if you’re able to show me some concrete evidence of a ghost, I’ll not only believe it, I’ll drop everything and become a ghost hunter myself.”

“I’ll hold you to that. Kuro-chan.”

Kuroo grinned at him, playful and seductive. 

“It’ll take a lot to convince me, though.”

“Oh, I can be pretty convincing,” Oikawa winked. He didn’t mean it to sound so provocative, or maybe he did, he wasn’t sure anymore. Kuroo didn’t seem to mind it at all.

“Let me know if you need help finding your room, Oika’a-kun,” Kuroo purred. 

“I think I can make it on my own,” Oikawa smiled as he took the key and headed up the stairs to his room. 

  
  
  


There were two rooms on each floor, so finding it was really no trouble at all. The room itself didn’t seem out of the ordinary, although Oikawa definitely got the sense that something about it was off. He’d requested this room specifically, despite the protests of the receptionist he spoke to over the phone earlier. There had been dozens of reports from visitors who’d stayed in this room, ranging from travel websites, Yelp, Reddit, random forums about haunted places in Japan. Oikawa had painstakingly combed through each and every one to try and weed out the real testimonies from those just looking to post clickbait. Regardless of its accuracy, in each posting there was at least one similarity; every patriarch of the Ohashi family had killed their wives and then themselves, the same way, in that very room. All those souls, all that pain, were said to still remain. Screams could be heard, grotesque figures seen in the halls, eyes watching from the dark corners of the ceilings. It was said that most people couldn’t last more than a night inside, couples especially. 

Oikawa just had to find out for himself. 

Sure, others in his line of work had come here before him, and some of them even managed to get some real, compelling evidence. But Oikawa was confident he could do better. Perhaps it was arrogance, or pride, he’d been told that before. But he saw it as passion, and that’s all he needed. 

He looked around the room, for aged bloodstains or really any evidence at all that murders had taken place there. There was an antique desk by the window, a dresser across from the bed, and a wardrobe in the corner. Hanging on the wall was a photo of the inn. Looking closely, Oikawa guessed it was taken some time in the 1800’s. It was black and white, but not necessarily spooky. Just a house, some poppies planted out front that weren’t there now. He picked it up off the wall just to sate his curiosity, but nothing laid behind it. A crisp rectangle was on the wall from where the photograph hung, clearly not having been moved in years. 

Oikawa checked the rest of the room for anything that might stick out, but there wasn’t anything especially interesting about it. Just an odd feeling, like being watched. 

After unpacking his clothes, he set out all of the devices he had brought with him for the investigation on top of the bed. After doing this work alone for so long, it only took him about ten minutes to set up cameras around the room and stream the live feed to his laptop. When he was satisfied he got all the best angles, he decided to go exploring around the inn. 

Kuroo was still at the front desk when he came down the stairs, deeply immersed in his studying. There was something about him that pulled Oikawa in, much like when he found a really good haunting. He was enticing and enigmatic, there was definitely more to him than what he let others perceive. Kuroo Tetsurou, huh? Maybe ghosts weren’t the only thing Oikawa would be investigating during his stay there. 

The floorboards creaked under Oikawa’s steps, and Kuroo looked up and gave him a small smile. 

“See any ghosts?” he teased. 

“Ha, very funny,” Oikawa rolled his eyes. “Actually, I was wondering if you could tell me more about the history of this place.”

“I’ll do you one better,” Kuroo said, closing his notebooks and standing up. “I’ll give you a personal tour.”

Oikawa wanted to make a quip, but was actually thrilled at the prospect. Not because it was Kuroo, of course, but because he wanted to know everything, see every room, so that he knew where to investigate later that night. Kuroo was just an added bonus, because of how he knew the Ohashi family and their home. That was it. 

Kuroo led him into the sitting room off to the side, with all the books and netsukes. Some of the books were so worn that he couldn’t read any of the kanji on the spines, a few were torn like they’d been read hundreds of times. Oikawa walked over to one of the shelves holding an array of netsukes and other tchotchkes. 

Some of the items were pretty ordinary. A pink ceramic koi fish with a cute, animated expression. Some hand painted kokeshi dolls along with multiple kinds of inros, painted with cranes and daffodils and other designs. A honeycomb tile with a bee painted on it next to a tan umi and an ivory rabbit making mochi. They were all beautiful, but it was the netsukes that really caught Oikawa’s eye. 

They were of yokai, some extremely menacing. One was of an oni carrying an okame mask, another of a woman with a demonic looking spider crawling out of her back. Women carved with painful expressions on their faces, looking like tortured spirits.

Oikawa got the feeling that he could spend hours in this room, and still turn to find something new. He almost forgot he wasn’t alone, and looked over to see Kuroo watching him with a charmed expression. 

“What?” Oikawa asked.

“Nothin’,” Kuroo chuckled. “Anyway, this used to be a tea room, I think, then at some point it was turned into a study, now it’s just a sort of a sitting room. You’re free to come in here and go through the books.”

“What about the netsukes?”

“What do you mean?”

“Do they belong to the family?”

“Yeah, but Chiyo-san didn’t want to take any of them with her, for some reason,” Kuroo shrugged. 

“Interesting…” Oikawa mumbled. 

“How’s that interesting?”

“Sometimes, objects can retain spirit, like how water retains memory,” Oikawa explained, making an effort to describe it in a way that Kuroo could relate to. 

“Sure,” Kuroo mused sarcastically, “or she didn’t wanna clutter her house with more junk.”

Oikawa rolled his eyes, but was definitely fighting a smile. 

“Has anything been reported to happen here?” he asked instead. 

“Sometimes the netsukes move around,” Kuroo said casually, as if that weren’t something incredible. “I think it’s just someone playing pranks, though.”

“Which ones move around?”

Kuroo eyed him, like he couldn’t quite believe how seriously Oikawa was taking all this. He liked the guy, however, and decided entertaining him couldn’t hurt. He looked up in thought, trying to remember. 

“The yūrei, I think. I don’t really come in here, it’s usually the housekeepers who notice.”

Oikawa hummed to himself, making a mental note to ask them about their experiences later. 

Kuroo then showed him around the kitchen, which still had stone flooring and a wood burning stove. Off the kitchen was a traditional informal dining room with tatami flooring. Kuroo casually mentioned how sometimes he heard glasses moving, or found the sink running, even though no one was there. 

“Old house,” he reasoned.

Even though Kuroo didn’t believe in ghosts, he still told Oikawa about all the things he’d heard. How shadowy figures were seen in the hallways, floorboards creaking above even when there was no one else in the house, how sometimes people heard talking, but walked into the room to find it empty. Sometimes, visitors even held full conversations with a woman, to look back the next second and find her gone. When they asked about her to the employees, they’d find out that no one by that description was staying there. Oikawa listened to every word intently, and returned back any of Kuroo’s teasing with some of his own.

“What’s that lead to?” Oikawa asked curiously, nodding over to a door that they’d nearly completely passed. It seemed almost ominous, like it wasn’t meant to be there. 

“Oh, that’s just the door to the cellar,” Kuroo said. 

“Can we go down there?”

Kuroo laughed. “No way. It’s locked.” He even walked over and turned the handle to prove it. Sure enough, when he turned the doorknob, it didn’t open. 

“Don’t you have a key?” 

“Nope,” Kuroo replied. “Chiyo-san made it clear she didn’t want anyone going down here.”

That piqued Oikawa’s interest. “Why not?”

“Eh,” Kuroo drawled unconcerned, waving his hand. ”I think it’s just dirty and old, probably not safe to be down there. Asbestos, rotting wood, ya know.”

When Kuroo started to walk further down the hall, Oikawa followed after him, but not without looking back at the door. Something was beyond it, something was hiding down there, he just knew it.

Kuroo led him upstairs and to the other guest rooms. There was one other person staying at the inn, on the second floor, so he couldn’t show him all the rooms. Oikawa asked if he could get a key to the vacant rooms, and Kuroo laughed and told him not unless he wanted to pay for them.

He briefly introduced Oikawa to the other employees. Since it was a small, family-owned inn there wasn’t a large staff. There was a day receptionist, two housekeepers, and a single groundskeeper. The groundskeeper stayed in a small cottage nearby, and a housekeeper would always be on the premises if he needed help. 

By the end of the tour, Oikawa had received a pretty good history of the place, but also learned a lot about Kuroo. He’d played volleyball in high school, just like Oikawa did. He was almost done with grad school, once he finished this internship he’d be set. He was so excited to finally work in a lab as more than just an assistant to take notes and enter data. Oikawa had ended up telling him a lot about himself, too. Even though they disagreed on the matter of ghosts, they had a lot in common. 

“At least we both agree that aliens exist,” Oikawa said. 

“I mean, that’s obvious,” Kuroo replied. 

They were still talking as Kuroo packed up his things, having finished his shift an hour ago. Oikawa was used to getting his work started this late, but the bags under Kuroo’s eyes revealed his exhaustion. Oikawa felt bad for keeping him, he just lost track of time. Talking to Kuroo was just so easy, so enjoyable. Working alone made him forget how nice it was to have someone around. Kuroo yawned, giving off the image of a tired cat. It made Oikawa chuckle to himself. 

“Say hi to any ghosts for me,” Kuroo said playfully. “Ask them where my headphones keep disappearing.”

“Will do,” Oikawa smiled. “Goodnight, Kuro-chan.”

He waved Kuroo off before heading to the kitchen to get a quick bite. Kana, the night housekeeper, was very courteous to him, and even brought him cookies. She beamed when he complimented her cooking. 

“Kana-chan,” Oikawa said pleasantly, “Have you ever had anything strange happen to you here?”

The smile on Kana’s face immediately dropped. She looked away and squirmed in place, clearly made uneasy by the question. 

“I apologize,” Oikawa said quickly. “You don’t have to answer.”

“No, it’s alright,” she replied quietly. “It’s just… I don't want to upset them.”

“Upset who?”

Kana didn’t say anything, looking away nervously. Oikawa followed her gaze and found himself staring at the cellar door. 

  
  
  


Oikawa waited until he was sure everyone was asleep before leaving his room. He did an EVP session and left the recorder running on the bed, but he was so damn curious about that basement door. Kuroo showed him it was locked, but that's never stopped Oikawa before. After doing this job for so long, he’d learned a lot of useful skills. 

What was behind that door? What was in that cellar? Why didn’t Ohashi Chiyo want anyone going down there? Why did it make Kana so uneasy? He just had to know.

Oikawa grabbed his lock pick kit, a handheld camera, recorder, a flashlight, and made his way downstairs. The floorboards creaked with nearly every step, no matter how lightly he tried to move. It was honestly more annoying than it was unnerving. A particularly loud creak made him take pause, not wanting to wake the other visitor, but after a few moments of silence he decided it was safe to carry on. He wasn’t explicitly told he couldn’t go about at night, but still, he had a feeling breaking into the cellar wouldn’t be appreciated. 

Once he got to the door he knelt before it and put his flashlight in his mouth so he could use both his hands to work. He’d picked plenty of locks before, so this should be no trouble at all. 

Oikawa must’ve worked that door for fifteen minutes, but there was no use. It wouldn’t budge no matter what he did. He’d come across stubborn doors before, but he always got them open eventually with some hard work. It was like this door didn’t want to be opened. He would have gladly tried longer, but his knee was starting to ache from being crouched for so long, so he decided to admit defeat. Maybe he could go digging around for the key. 

Oikawa stood up and stretched his muscles, staring at the door as if he could get it open with just pure will. He’d already wasted enough time on it, so with a sigh he turned around and began to walk away. 

A scratching sound stopped him in his tracks. He waited, and heard it again. A light scratching coming from behind him. Oikawa turned and flashed the light at the door. Again came the scratching, from directly behind the door. 

“Hello?” Oikawa whispered. There was no reply. “Is anyone there?”

The only response he got was more scratching, getting more and more incessant. It started to sound frantic, and he reached for the doorknob instinctively. 

Before his hand touched the handle, he heard a crash come from down the hall. It sounded like shattering glass. Oikawa’s head whipped toward the noise, and when he looked back at the door, he realized the scratching had stopped. 

He decided to bolt towards the sound, leaving the door behind. He was pretty sure the noise came from the sitting room. As soon as he stepped in, he could see a broken netsuke on the floor. He walked over to it and bent down to inspect it, his sore knee making him wince slightly. It was one of the yūrei figurines, the screaming expression cracked in half and now looking even more haunting. She was painted to be crying. 

Oikawa pulled out his recorder to do an EVP session. He asked who was there, what they wanted, what their name was, how they died. Typical questions he asked on every investigation. He stayed in the room for a few more minutes in silence, before deciding to ask one more question. 

“What is in the cellar?”

Nothing else happened that night, so he decided to go back to his room and sleep. It was about four in the morning when he’d finished wrapping up. He left the cameras going, curled into bed, and fell asleep. He was too tired to heed the feeling of being watched. 

  
  
  


The sun filtered in through the window, the rays warming Oikawa’s cheeks and causing him to blink awake. He was surprised, he’d slept through the night without incident. It was actually relatively peaceful. He was disappointed, he’d heard terrible things about what happened to people who slept in this room. But he didn’t even have so much as a bad dream, let alone get visited by any vengeful ghosts. 

Still, what had transpired last night was more than intriguing. He couldn’t wait to go back and watch the footage he took last night, but first, he needed some breakfast. 

Downstairs, he met the daytime receptionist who he’d spoken to over the phone, Sute. They seemed just as surprised as Oikawa by how well he slept. In the kitchen he found the daytime housekeeper, Den, who gave him his breakfast. He’d asked to have it brought to his room, but she refused once she found out which room he was staying in.

“I won’t go in there, even when the sun is out,” she told him. 

“Did something happen?” he asked. She seemed reluctant to respond, like Kana was. “Don’t worry, I’m here because of what I’ve heard about this place.”

“Well,” she whispered. “Don’t you just feel like you’re being watched in there?”

Oikawa nodded, and she pressed on. 

“Once, when I was in there, changing the sheets, I,” she paused and closed her eyes shut, like she was trying to ward off the memory. “I swear I was shoved. And, and choked.”

“Really?” Oikawa asked, sounding far too excited than would be polite. 

“I couldn’t breathe!” she explained. “It was like someone had their hands around me, but I couldn’t see anything!”

“What happened?”

“Suddenly it just stopped, and I ran out of there as fast as I could.”

Oikawa sat back in his seat, taking it all in. He didn’t experience that himself yet, and he went back and forth on whether or not he wanted to. 

“Den-chan, can I ask, why did you come back?”

“The evil spirit isn't the only one here, you know,” she told him. 

  
  
  


Oikawa spent a lot of time thinking about what Den had said. So, multiple spirits haunted the inn, but not all of them were evil. She seemed convinced only one was malicious, and after talking to Sute more, he corroborated that was the general consensus among the staff. Except for Kuroo, of course, who didn’t seem to believe in ghosts at all. Oikawa tried to talk to Taka, the groundskeeper, but they seemed keen to stick to themself. 

It was still an early theory, but Oikawa believed that the spirits of the wives still remained, and were trapped there by whatever demon resided in the cellar that drove their husbands to murder-suicide. He recalled reading that the husbands had all killed their wives the same way, first by choking them, then stabbing them exactly forty-nine times. 

He poured over the footage and audio recordings, but after three hours with nothing of interest, he decided to take a break. He pulled out his phone, pressed speed dial, and waited as the phone rang. 

_“Sup, loser.”_

“Iwa-chan!” Oikawa whined. “I haven’t even said anything yet!”

 _“Don’t need to. How’s the investigation going?”_ Iwaizumi asked. 

“This is going to be a really, really good one,” Oikawa grinned. 

_“Yeah? How so?”_

Oikawa told him all about the history of the place, the door, the scratching, the netsukes. To his credit, Iwaizumi listened intently. Despite the antagonistic nature of their relationship, even after everything, they were still best friends. 

“Makes you regret quitting, huh?” Oikawa asked smugly. 

_“Hell no,”_ Iwaizumi chuckled. _“I actually like sleeping during the night and being awake during the day.”_

“Boring.”

_“Screw you.”_

“How’s Keiji-kun?”

 _“Really good,”_ Iwaizumi said, and Oikawa could hear the smile in his voice. _“He’s been writing a lot, a new novel. It’s going to be the best book ever written.”_

“You say that every time,” Oikawa teased. 

_“And I’m right! Now, tell me about this Kuroo guy.”_

Oikawa made a confused face, even though Iwaizumi couldn’t see him. He probably would have smacked him if he saw the dumb look he was making. 

“What? Why?” he asked incredulously. 

_“Oikawa, seriously? Half the things you’ve told me were about the house, the rest was all about him. So what makes him special? Is he hot?”_

“Iwa-chan!” 

_“Well? Is he?”_

Oikawa pinched his brow and sighed. He knew Iwaizumi wouldn't stop bugging him until he caved. 

“I mean, yes, I guess, in a like, nerdy, irritating way.”

 _“Ooh, you must really like this guy,”_ Iwaizumi cooed. 

“I barely know him!”

_“And yet you won’t shut up about him.”_

“I’m hanging up.”

_“Uh-huh.”_

Oikawa ended the call just to prove a point. He knew Iwaizumi wouldn’t be genuinely mad about it. He got text from him a few seconds later. 

**Iwa-chan** : fuck u

also, go somewhere quieter next time u call me

i could hear talking in the back the whole time

  
  
  


Oikawa didn’t pick up anything on the cameras, much to his dismay. He got the scratching, and the crash, but that was it. No voices, no growls, no spirits caught on camera. Not even so much as a dust particle. It was lackluster, especially considering all that had happened. He was certain this would be a goldmine of evidence, but so far he didn’t have much to show. 

By the time he’d gone through all the footage, Kuroo had started his shift. Oikawa knew this because when he came downstairs, the Ghostbusters theme started playing. He looked over to the receptionist's desk to see Kuroo grinning back at him, holding up his phone. 

“Enjoying yourself?” Oikawa asked with his hands on his hips. He tried to sound annoyed, but truthfully, he was excited that Kuroo was back. 

“I am now,” Kuroo said smoothly. “So? How’d it go?”

Oikawa walked over to the sitting room, motioning for Kuroo to follow him. 

“One of the netsukes broke last night,” Oikawa informed him. 

“Oh yeah, Kana told me,” he said. “Said she found it when she woke up.”

“Has that happened before?” 

Kuroo looked up in thought, Oikawa figured that must be one of his habits. 

“Not that I know of,” he replied. 

“Well, I heard the crash,” Oikawa told him excitedly. “It sounded like someone threw it, but when I came in, no one was here.”

He waited for Kuroo’s awed reaction, but all he got was a shrug. 

“It probably just fell.”

“Seriously? Across the whole room?”

“Could have rolled.”

“You’re impossible.”

“I’m just being realistic!” Kuroo laughed. 

“Ok, then how do you explain this?” Oikawa shot back. “I heard scratching coming from the cellar door.”

“What were you doing over there?” Kuroo asked suspiciously. 

“Did you not hear what I just said? There was scratching! Someone is down there!” 

“Yeah, and his name is Mr. Mouse,” Kuroo teased. “It was probably just a rodent that got stuck down there.”

Oikawa gave him a look that just made him laugh. 

“Sorry,” Kuroo said, “but it’s going to take more than that to convince me.”

“Well, Den-chan seemed pretty freaked out by it,” Oikawa pouted. 

Kuroo froze, his eyes widening as he gawked at Oikawa. 

“What did you just say?” he asked shakily. 

“That Den-chan seemed freaked out by the door…” Oikawa replied, looking at Kuroo quizzically. Kuroo looked paler, like he was scared, and it was freaking him out. 

“Den has been dead for ten years,” Kuroo muttered. 

Oikawa’s eyes snapped open as far as they would go. She was dead? So did that mean, the whole time, he was talking to a ghost?

Kuroo stared back at him, before keeling over laughing. 

“You should have seen the look on your face!” Kuroo cackled hysterically. 

Oikawa blinked down at him in confusion. 

“What?”

“I—I was joking—Den isn't dead,” Kuroo giggled, wiping tears from his eyes. Oikawa immediately smacked him on the back. 

“You jerk!” he shouted. “I really believed you!”

“Sorry, sorry,” Kuroo said, not sounding sorry at all. “It was just too easy.”

Oikawa rolled his eyes and turned on his heel, heading into the hall. Kuroo followed right behind him. 

“Hey, hey,” he said when he caught up to Oikawa, a bit more seriously. “I was just messing around, I didn’t mean to upset you, I’m sorry.”

Oikawa eyed him without turning his head, then broke out into a smirk of his own. 

“I know.”

“Huh?”

“You should see the look on your face,” Oikawa winked, giving Kuroo a playful shove. Kuroo smiled back at him in relief. “You busy, tonight?” 

“Nah,” Kuroo said, thoughts of chemistry notes at the back of his mind. “What are we doing?”

“Wanna do an EVP session with me?”

“What’s that?”

“Electronic voice phenomenon.”

“Aw, I was hoping that was code for something else,” Kuroo said suggestively. Oikawa laughed and gave him a light smack on the shoulder. 

“Pervert. Basically, we use a recorder, ask questions, and play it back to see if we got anything.”

“Sounds pointless, but I’m down,” Kuroo shrugged. 

They sat in front of the cellar door sitting cross-legged facing each other. Oikawa asked his usual round of questions, and Kuroo supplied some sillier ones. He really wanted to know why he kept losing all his headphones. When they played it back, no other voices could be heard, and Oikawa sighed in disappointment. 

“Hey, maybe we can try the sitting room,” Kuroo suggested, seeing how bummed out Oikawa was. “Did I ever tell you about the time a guest said they saw the books floating in there?”

Oikawa couldn’t help but smile. It didn’t matter that Kuroo didn’t believe. He was touched that despite that, Kuroo still wanted to spend time with him, even if it meant entertaining his wild ideas.

For the rest of the night, they went around doing EVP sessions and taking pictures on a digital camera to try and catch any ghosts or orbs. For some of the pictures, Kuroo would strike a pose, or make Oikawa do one, or they’d turn the camera and take a picture together. They had dinner together, and talked about their lives and other interests. It was hard for Oikawa to not talk about the paranormal, his passion, but Kuroo didn’t seem to mind. He’d tease him, but he listened with genuine interest. He’d occasionally ask a question, or challenge Oikawa’s ideas, but that just made the conversation more interesting. 

Before Oikawa knew it, Kuroo’s shift was over, and he had to leave. He said nothing about how Kuroo had spent his entire shift with him, or how he’d stayed longer once again. Kuroo jokingly warned him not to ask the ghosts to expose all his secrets, and then headed home. 

It was quiet, with Kuroo gone. The one other guest had left in the morning before Oikawa even woke up, so it was just him. Kana was in the kitchen cleaning, and Taka was checking around the grounds before heading to their cottage for the night. It was practically just Oikawa, and the spirits. 

He found himself drawn back to the sitting room. He took his time to observe the shelves once more. This time, as he had expected, new things caught his eye. An ivory figurine of an eagle attacking a monkey, a tall slim man with a long beard carved of fine wood, demonic cherubs devouring each other. 

Behind one of the figures, he almost didn’t catch it, was a small white object. At first, he thought it was another ivory carving, but after looking closer he realized it was a tooth. He made sure no one was looking when he grabbed it. Holding it in his hand, it appeared to be a human molar. Not of a child, as one might expect to find as a keepsake, but of an adult. He put it back, a little unnerved. He felt like he’d just done something wrong. 

Nothing else unusual happened that night during his investigation. He tried the cellar door again, even waited to hear if the scratching came back, but there was nothing. No netsukes broke, no voices, nothing. 

Oikawa went to bed disappointed, really only looking forward to seeing Kuroo again the next day so he could show him the tooth. After making sure the cameras were still running, he went to sleep. 

  
  
  


Oikawa sat at the antique desk in his room, trying to get some work done. Just because he didn’t see anything last night, didn’t mean he didn’t catch anything on the cameras. 

While watching the footage, he began to hear the scratching noise again. Not from his laptop, but from within his room. He turned around, but no one was there. He got up, opened the door, but nobody was in the hall either. 

“Get it together,” he whispered to himself. 

He sat back down and tried to watch more. It wasn’t long until he heard scratching, this time pinpointing it to the wall with the dresser. He remembered what Kuroo had said, maybe it really was just a mouse. This was an old building, it wasn’t that impossible. 

He turned back to the screen and pressed play, trying his best to focus on the footage. Scratch, scratch, scratch. It got more persistent, and finally Oikawa looked over in annoyance and nearly fell off his chair. 

Coming out from under the dresser were hands. Multiple pairs of bloodied hands, scratching the wood of the dresser and the floor, their nails ripping off. Oikawa tried to scream, but it came out as a choking noise. It felt like someone had their hands around his throat and was squeezing the breath out of him. He clawed at his neck, trying to rip the invisible hands off of him. He couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t breathe. 

With a guttural gasp, Oikawa shot up in his bed. Panting, he looked over at the dresser, now bathed in sunlight, and there were no hands, no claw marks. He fell back against the mattress and stared up at the ceiling. It was just a dream. 

  
  
  


After calming himself down, and accepting he would not be going back to sleep, Oikawa decided to finally get up and start his day. With a slight tremor in his hands he changed his clothes, threw some water on his face, and checked behind the dresser. He didn’t find anything, of course, but he had to be sure. Normally, he’d check his footage about now, but he was still too unnerved from his dream that he decided to put it off for later. 

On his way to the door, Oikawa paused. The picture of the inn that was hanging on the wall, had it changed? He swore the flowers were freshly planted the first time he looked at it, but now they were all dead. 

“What the…” Oikawa muttered, stepping closer to inspect it. Not only were the flowers dead, but the house even looked like it was starting to decay. But wasn’t this picture of the house when it was newly built?

But what was most disconcerting of all was the dark, shadowy figure standing in one of the windows. It was hard to see, so maybe he really did miss it the first time he looked at the photo, but he was sure someone, or something, was standing there now. It was the top floor, all the way to the left. His room. 

  
  
  


Everything in the house felt slightly off, now. Oikawa’s dream left him deeply unsettled and completely on edge. Den and Sute asked him if he was alright, but he didn’t want to scare them, so he just told them he had a headache.

He decided to go for a walk around the garden, to get some fresh air and get out of that building. He couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched. The garden was only lush where it was overgrown. It wasn’t orderly like many other Japanese gardens, which made him wonder what Taka actually did. After walking around for ten minutes, he took a seat on an old stone bench under a dying evergreen. 

Oikawa had been on many investigations before, had been doing them alone for a couple years. He should be used to it. He thought he was.

He stared into the dirt, annoyed with himself. It was just a dream. Nothing exceptionally noteworthy had even happened during his investigations so far. But still, he couldn’t shake the feeling that this inn, this household, was cursed. 

Then, his eye caught something in the dirt under his shoe, the corner of something sticking out. Pulling it out and shaking it off, he realized it was a photo. It was black and white, and of a woman in a wedding kimono. She looked beautiful, and even happy. It stirred the inner reaches of his heart, and he knew that this was one of the victims. That she looked so content, and that something in this place had robbed that of her, it lit the fire of his resolve once again. He would help these victims, he wouldn’t leave until their spirits found peace. 

“That is Ohashi Matsu.”

Oikawa whipped his head around to see Taka hovering over his shoulder. Taka’s towering, stern gaze immediately made him uneasy. 

“Oh, sorry,” Oikawa apologized. “I just found it here.”

“She planted this tree, you know,” Taka continued, practically ignoring him. “She wanted it to represent her new life, in this house.”

Oikawa looked back at the photo quietly, not wanting to interrupt. The small smile on her round face made him want to smile, too. He felt connected to her, in a way. Like she was sitting next to him. 

“Did you—“ Oikawa looked up, but Taka was already gone. 

He considered burying the photo back in the dirt. Something about that didn’t feel right to him. He felt as though she deserved to be up on that wall with all those stoic faces, a single cherry blossom among bare branches. 

He pocketed the photo and headed back inside.

  
  
  


Oikawa was still too unnerved to watch last night’s footage at the desk in his room, so he brought his laptop into the old study. Even though the netsukes crashed in here the other night, he still liked this room in the house best. 

The footage from last night was finally a little more interesting. He caught creaking on one of the cameras, when it was clear no one was walking around. Even little clouds of dust rose up from the floor with each step. There was even some talking, it sounded feminine, a discussion between multiple people. It was too muffled to make out anything they were saying, but it sounded urgent. 

The closer he got to the footage of him sleeping, the more distorted the quality got. He smacked his laptop lightly, thinking that must be it, but it was the actual recording. The picture got more and more pixelated as the static noise increased. It began not too long after Oikawa had crawled into bed. He looked closer, and in the corner of the room was a dark shadow, darker than all the others. Then it slowly, ever so slightly, moved. With a growl it appeared to jump at the camera, and all of them shut off. 

Oikawa removed his headphones and sat back in the armchair, trying to process. All the footage from when he was asleep, from when he had that horrible dream, was gone. 

He decided to move on to all the pictures he took last night, marking the ones he thought were interesting. He giggled to himself looking through the ones of him and Kuroo. But then, in one of the pictures they took together, just at the end of the hallway, it looked as though there was… a woman. Oikawa zoomed in as far as he could without completely clouding the face. He stared at the image, then pulled out the photo in his pocket. They looked identical. 

That was the only photo really significant when it came to the paranormal, and Oikawa couldn’t wait to show Kuroo. He also saved some of the pictures they took together that he thought were cute.

One of the sillier pictures gave him an idea, and he pulled out his phone and sent a snapchat to Iwaizumi, sticking his tongue out and making a peace sign. Iwaizumi hated when he did that, it could make him go from just a little annoyed to genuinely mad. He used to send him ugly faces, but after Iwaizumi screenshot one he refused to send him any more. 

A few seconds later, he received one back. It was Iwaizumi and Akaashi, cuddled up together on the couch with a dog filter and sticking their tongues out. The caption, however, confused the hell out of him. ‘Who’s that in the back?’

Oikawa looked behind him, it was just a plain wall. He opened the chat and sent Iwaizumi a message.

**Oikawa** : huh??? no one was there

iwa-chan r u making fun of me!!!!

**Iwaizumi** : wtf r u talking abt

there was someone right next to u

Oikawa’s heart nearly leapt out of his chest and onto the floor. 

**Oikawa** : what did they look like????????

**Iwaizumi** : idk it was blurry 

He wished so badly that Iwaizumi had taken a screenshot. He decided to try sending him a picture again, to see if he can make that woman, or whatever it was, appear behind him. The first picture he took was blurry, so he took it again. He growled, not satisfied with how good he looked in the photo. He steadied his hand, made his trademark pose, and took another picture. 

A grotesque, bloody woman appeared in the photo beside him, looking like she was reaching for him. Her mouth, or what he assumed was her mouth, was gaping open with blood spilling out of it. Oikawa shouted and dropped the phone, immediately spinning around in his chair. It was just a plain wall, the wallpaper chipping in some places. His heart was pounding now, and Sute rushed in looking frantic. 

“Are you alright?!” they asked. 

Oikawa looked around the room, trying to find any trace of the spirit he just witnessed. But everything looked completely ordinary. 

“Yes, yes,” Oikawa laughed nervously. “I, um, saw a spider.”

Sute placed their hand on their chest and sighed in relief. 

“You scared me half to death,” they said. 

“Sorry, sorry,” Oikawa apologized, and Sute went back to the receptionist desk. 

What the hell was that? Was that one of the wives who’d been murdered? Oikawa sincerely hoped it wasn’t Matsu. The spirit who appeared in the photo seemed vengeful, violent. 

The photo! Oikawa scrambled to the floor and picked up his phone. 

“Fuck…”

Not only was the screen now cracked, but it was completely dead. It was fully charged just an hour before, but now it wouldn’t even turn back on. 

Charging the phone would prove to be no good. The photo wasn’t there when it finally turned back on. It was lost forever. 

  
  
  


“You look…” Kuroo started to say when he took a glance at Oikawa. After getting a stern glare, he finished with, “tired?”

“I barely slept,” Oikawa admitted. “I have so much to tell you.”

Kuroo grinned, and Oikawa couldn’t help but smile back. Even after the day he’d had, seeing Kuroo had immediately put him at ease. He’d only know this man for a couple days, but already, he’d grown attached. Stupid, he thought at himself. In just two more days, he’d have to leave, and they’d never see each other again. He wanted to make the next moments really count.

Oikawa told him all about the nightmare, and while Kuroo didn’t make fun of him, he did suggest that his brain was just creating situations based on what he was thinking about all day. That it was his anxiety resulted in the dream, nothing more. Even after being shown the footage, Kuroo thought that it could have been some sort of bug, or bird that had gotten in, and it messed with the cameras. 

“Wow, birds can growl?” Oikawa asked sarcastically. 

“That was a growl?” Kuroo laughed. “Probably just something off with the frequency before it cut out.”

Oikawa realized there was no point trying to convince him otherwise, so he moved on to showing Kuroo the pictures they took. 

“Look, here,” Oikawa said, pointing to the figure in the background. They were currently both curled up on the loveseat in the old study. “What’s that look like to you, Kuro-chan?”

Kuroo leaned forward and squinted at the photo. “Looks like… just a blur to me.”

Oikawa gave him a pointed look. “Seriously?”

“What?” Kuroo defended. “You want me to say it looks like a g-g-g-g-ghost?”

Oikawa huffed and pulled out the photo in his pocket, placing it next to the image on the screen. “How about now?”

“Who is that?” 

“Ohashi Matsu, she is one of the women who was murdered here,” Oikawa explained. “I found this in the garden.”

Kuroo took the photo in, and reconsidered the second image. After a few seconds, he shook his head. 

“Sorry, Oika’a-kun, I don’t see what you see. That’s a cute picture of us, though, you should send it to me.”

Oikawa puffed out his cheeks in a pout. “Stop trying to distract me.”

“I thought you liked it when I distracted you,” Kuroo said seductively. 

Oikawa set the laptop aside and stood up, walking toward the shelves. 

“Well, come take a look at this, then,” he said. He would not fall for Kuroo’s charm just yet. “Today I noticed there was a…tooth.”

Even though it was just there a few hours ago, the tooth was now gone. Kuroo walked over and looked around, not seeing it either. 

“I don’t understand,” Oikawa mumbled. “It was right here earlier.”

“Maybe Den or Kana found it and threw it away,” Kuroo suggested. 

“Maybe…” But Oikawa didn’t actually believe it. 

“You said something else had happened in here…?” Kuroo asked. 

“Oh! Yes, over Snapchat,” Oikawa said excitedly. “I sent a selfie to Iwa-chan—it was very cute, you should have seen it—and he and his boyfriend told me they saw someone in it!”

“Any chance they took a screenshot?” 

“No,” Oikawa sighed. “I explicitly banned Iwa-chan from doing that with any of our Snaps, they’re strictly confidential.”

“Uh huh,” Kuroo grinned. 

“Not like that! Pervert…” 

“So, what, some ghost took a selfie with you?”

“Well,” Oikawa trailed off. “I tried to recreate it, and, well, it did reappear. Scared me so bad I dropped my phone.” Oikawa showed Kuroo his cracked screen. 

“Ooh, did you save the picture?” Kuroo asked excitedly. “I wanna see!”

“That’s the worst part!” Oikawa cried. “The spirit must have completely drained my battery to gather enough energy to appear like that. When I picked my phone back up, it was dead.”

“Ah, of course,” Kuroo sighed. “That would have been pretty good evidence.”

“Yeah…”

Kuroo smiled at him, sweet and a little flirty. “Guess you’ll have to keep trying to convince me.”

Oikawa smiled back, before he gasped when he remembered. He grabbed Kuroo’s hand and, without warning, started pulling him up the stairs. 

“I almost forgot! In my room!” Oikawa said quickly. 

“Whoa, slow down,” Kuroo laughed, struggling to keep up. He had longer legs, but wasn’t used to being dragged up four flights of stairs. 

When they got to the top, they were both catching their breath. 

“Ya know,” Kuroo panted. “If you wanted to take me in your room, you really could’ve just asked.”

“Look, look, look,” Oikawa demanded. He pulled Kuroo over to the photo of the inn. To his relief, it was how he left it that morning. 

“Ok…” Kuroo muttered confused. “I’m looking.”

“When I first got here, I swear this photo looked different.”

“Different how?”

“The house was definitely in better condition when I first looked at it. And here,” Oikawa pointed to his room’s window. “There’s someone here.”

Kuroo squinted and cocked his head, trying to make something of it. “Okay...even if someone is there, what’s the big deal? People are in photos all the time.”

“None of that is suspicious to you?”

“I mean,” Kuroo grimaced, trying to choose his words carefully. He didn’t want to offend Oikawa, despite how much he enjoyed teasing him. 

“I’d rather you tell me what you’re really thinking,” Oikawa said, and he meant it. They didn’t have to agree, but Oikawa didn’t want to be lied to.

“I just think, maybe there’s a chance you remembered the picture wrong?” Kuroo said carefully. “With no way to prove it…”

Oikawa sighed, unsurprised. In a way, Kuroo was right. That would always be an issue in this line of work, and it was almost as if spirits knew that and purposely avoiding being documented. It was frustrating, but so, so interesting. 

“You...sleep like this?” Kuroo asked. 

Oikawa turned around and saw Kuroo making a weary face at all the cameras set up. 

“Oh, yeah,” Oikawa replied off-handedly. “Usually I set them all around wherever I’m investigating, but I was told I couldn’t since there would be another guest.”

Kuroo hummed, and took in the rest of the room. 

“Ya know,” he said. “I’ve actually never really been in here.”

“Really?” Oikawa asked, surprised. 

“Yeah, I mean, I’m just a receptionist, so there’s no reason for me to come up here.”

“Does it...feel different to you? Do you get the feeling of being watched?”

Kuroo considered it a moment, looking up in thought. Oikawa couldn’t help but smile softly at that. Kuroo’s quirks were really cute. 

“Nah, just feels like an ordinary room,” Kuroo said. 

Oikawa threw up his hands on theatrical exasperation. “You’re hopeless!”

“Sorry, we can't all be psychic like you!”

Kuroo poked Oikawa in the side, causing him to yelp. Oikawa poked him back, the childishness of the situation not escaping him but not bothering him either. 

“Come on,” Kuroo laughed. “I’m hungry, let’s go down to the kitchen.”

They left the room talking amiably, not at all noticing how one of the cameras turned slightly, following them out the door. 

  
  
  


“This is a spirit box,” Oikawa explained, holding out the device. After dinner, he invited Kuroo along for a little EVP session. They sat on the floor in the old study facing each other. “It circulates multiple frequencies at a time, and spirits can peace them together to speak.”

“Sounds fake, but ok,” Kuroo said. 

Oikawa ignored him and turned on the spirit box, releasing the sound of thousands of helicopters. 

“That’s not annoying!” Kuroo shouted over the noise. 

“What is your name?” Oikawa asked the room. 

The chirping didn't change. Oikawa covered it when he asked his next questions, if only for Kuroo’s sake. He asked the spirit to say their name, either his or Kuroo’s, whose house this was. They weren’t getting any responses, and it looked as though Kuroo was getting a headache. 

“Who is in the cellar?” 

It was quicker than a blink, like a flash of lightning, but Oikawa could clearly hear a word: Legion. 

Oikawa hastily shut the box off. 

“Thank g—“

“Did you hear that?” Oikawa asked excitedly. “Did you hear that Kuro-chan? It said Legion! As in, many, as in more than one, as in—“

“I know what legion means,” Kuroo said. “It sounded just like a jumble of words to me. How did you get legion from that?”

“Come on, Kuro-chan! It clearly said it! How can you deny that?”

“Even if it did, which it didn’t,” Kuroo smirked. “It’s probably just a random word pulled from some radio station on one of those frequencies. There’s absolutely no correlation.”

“No correlation?” Oikawa repeated. “I asked who was down there and it said Legion, as in, multiple spirits.”

“It didn’t respond to any of your other questions,” Kuroo pointed out. “That was just totally random. You have to be able to repeat your findings over and over again to prove it's genuine.”

“Ok, Mr. Scientist, but what if this phenomenon just can’t be recorded, at least not in the way of the usual scientific method?” Oikawa challenged. 

“Then it’s not real?” Kuroo shrugged. 

They bickered for at least another hour, going back and forth on science and how it relates to the paranormal. It wasn’t all teasing, although it was certainly one of the most flirtatious conversations of its kind. They were both curious, and considered closely what the other had to say. Even though Oikawa still believed in ghosts, every conversation with Kuroo left him with more ideas, a broader outlook. It was entirely mutual. 

At one point they moved to the loveseat, which was significantly more comfortable than the floor. Without meaning too, Oikawa had dozed off, his head on Kuroo’s shoulder. He really didn’t get a lot of sleep the night before, and now he’d never felt more relaxed. 

“Wow, I’m that boring, huh?” Kuroo said softly, without any real annoyance. He smiled, looking down at Oikawa sleeping against his side. Man, was he in trouble. 

Oikawa ended up napping through the rest of Kuroo’s shift. He didn’t mind, he didn’t really have other work to do, so he just went over some chemistry notes from his phone. 

Oikawa blinked awake to his hair being played with. He almost sank back into it, before he remembered where he was. He sat up and yawned, stretching his arms out. 

“What time is it?” he asked drowsily. 

“Time for me to go home,” Kuroo said. 

Oikawa’s eyes went wide. “Oh, my god. I’m so sorry.”

“No, no, don’t be,” Kuroo smiled. “It was cute.”

Oikawa blushed at that, still too close to sleep to help it. He’d been told he was cute before, obviously, but it really pleased him that Kuroo seemed to think so too. 

Kuroo stood up and stretched his long limbs. He turned back to look down at Oikawa, who was still in a bit of a daze. 

“Say hi to the ghosts for me,” he winked. 

  
  
  


With some renewed energy, Oikawa got to work. It was just past midnight now, and he contemplated what his next move should be. He suspected that the spirits either didn’t reveal themselves to Kuroo, or when they did, he didn’t bother to notice. With him gone, the energy in the house already seemed to have shifted. It seemed heavier, darker. 

Oikawa went to the empty receptionist desk. He hoped to find the key to the cellar in the drawers, but it was just filled with little scraps of paper. Shining his flashlight, he saw they were little chemical formulas and things scribbled on sticky notes. It made him smile softly to himself. 

When he heard a woman crying, the smile from his face dropped. The hairs on his neck stood as he felt a chill go up his spine. Oikawa spun around swiftly, but of course, he was alone. His heart was pounding as he waited in silence, listening for it again. 

Down the hall, he heard it. The soft moaning, the agony. He rushed toward the sound, and found himself staring down the cellar door. Behind it, he could hear the sobbing. Oikawa gripped the doorknob and tried to jerk the door open, but it wouldn’t budge. The crying was getting louder, and he felt desperate to help. Realizing the door wasn’t going to open with just mere strength, he turned to run back to his room and grab his locksmith kit. 

He only took about four steps before hearing the tell-tale creaking of a heavy door being opened. He felt almost frozen, and broke out into a cold sweat. Turning around slowly, he watched as the once locked door crept open a few inches. An unthinkable cold air leaked out, the reek of sulfur carried with it. Oikawa swallowed thickly and attempted to steady his nerves. He took a step forward, when suddenly, he felt hands roughly pulling him back. 

Oikawa was on his back before he realized what had happened. Multiple pairs of icy cold hands held him down, while a pale woman with long, dark hair crawled on top of him. He tried to scream, but nothing came out. His breath came out in quick, visible puffs. There was so much blood. 

She stopped, her face hovering above his. Her jaw seemed to be unhinged, it gaped impossibly wide. 

“Leave!” she bellowed. 

The hands released their grip on him, and Oikawa ran. He ran outside, needing to get out, to get as far away as possible. Everything in him was repelling him away from that damned place. 

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” Oikawa gasped. 

His brain was swimming. What the fuck was that, who was that, how did the door open, who opened it, holy fuck, what the fuck was all that, why did it open the door just to yell at him to leave, what the fuck even was that.

And then, a moment of clarity, like the sun shining through storm clouds. Whatever dark spirit lay in wait in the cellar, it is what opened that door. It wanted him to come down there. The spirits of the women are who pulled him away and shouted at him to leave. Were they trying to protect him? Were they hoping to scare him into leaving forever?

Oikawa swallowed his fear and went back inside on shaky legs. No one was in his line of view, but he knew he wasn’t alone. He walked over to the family portraits on the wall, and bowed on his hands and knees before them. 

“Please, I want to help you,” he said to them. 

He kept his eyes shut, even as he felt long hair fall over his neck. 

“You can’t,” an eerie voice said into his ear. 

“Let me try, please,” Oikawa begged, even as he trembled. “Let me help you find peace.”

He did not hear another voice after that. 

  
  
  


Oikawa stood in front of the Ohashi family portraits. He wasn’t sure how long he’d stood there, but felt so compelled to help them. Looking into their eyes, they didn’t deserve what this place had done to them. 

“Please,” he pleaded. 

It was dark, the only light coming from the candles on the console table. But something was horribly off. It cast a red glow, the walls and floor looking almost as if they were painted in blood. Oikawa took a step forward, his movements felt weak and heavy. As he came closer to the pictures on the wall, he realized in horror that they were all of a single misshapen creature. 

The dark, monstrous-looking figure was...moving. Like it was following him, like it was trying to get out of the picture frames. Dark goo leaked out from behind them and dropped down to the floor. He tried to run back out the front door, but it was no longer there. Now in its place stood the cellar door, open but uninviting. When he tried to take a step away, his back met a solid wall. He looked behind himself in shock, and when he looked forward again, the door was right in front of him. He could feel the cold stench on his face. 

Then he heard a growl, and in the darkness appeared red eyes. First it was two, then four, then seven, then ten. Black goo poured forward from the threshold. The growl turned into a roar, and then…

Oikawa woke up in his bed. 

The panic had not left him yet, and his eyes searched around wildly, trying to recall where he was, how he got there, that he was safe. 

That nightmare was significantly worse than the previous. Every day, things seemed to be ramping up in intensity. How the hell was he going to survive another night here?

  
  
  


Perhaps it was stupidity, perhaps it was bravery, perhaps it was curiosity. Whatever it was, Oikawa decidedly pushed his fear away as far as it would go and tried to formulate his next move. As much as he had been terrorized, now that he had a moment to gather himself, and really think, he couldn’t help but be amazed about how extraordinary this all was. The recorder in his pocket had picked up most of his ordeal last night, though the ruffling of his clothes into the mic made it a bit harder to hear the spirit’s voice. 

His cameras even picked up a dark mass hovering over him as he slept, while he was tossing and turning in distress. When he woke, it immediately disappeared. 

This was the most fascinating, compelling experience he’d ever had in this line of work. He knew he didn’t have as much physical evidence as he would need to really prove his story, but he didn’t care about that anymore. Tonight, no matter what, he would absolutely go down into that cellar. 

The prospect still terrified him, but this all felt bigger than just him. If the spirits of the victims were still here, they were enduring their pain every day and night. He felt like he owed it to them to help. He wasn’t sure how he would do that, but he had the rest of the day to figure it out. 

Oikawa wanted to know more about the women, they felt like they were the key to all of this. He checked all the books in the study, looked them up online, but he couldn’t find much about them. Some of the books had notes made in them, which he figured could have been any of them, or anyone else. Then he remembered when he was out in the garden, sitting beneath the evergreen. 

Oikawa instinctively placed his hand over his pocket, where the photograph of Ohashi Matsu was. He’d come to think of it as a good luck charm, of her as his protector. She and all the other women, he could feel their caring spirits surround him. He wasn’t mad or fearful about what had happened the night before. He understood it was their way of trying to protect him. 

If Taka knew about Matsu, they must have more information about the others. Maybe they knew one of the victims, or had their own experiences to share.

After getting dressed, Oikawa headed out to go find Taka. Before he slipped out the door, he paused to check the picture hanging on his wall again. He was certain this time that the house looked more deteriorated than it did yesterday. It reminded him of The Portrait of Dorian Gray. The figure was still in the window, it felt just as imposing as it did in his nightmare last night. But now it looked as if there were someone else in front of it. 

“No...it can’t be,” Oikawa muttered to himself in disbelief. 

The person standing in front of the figure looked almost like...him. 

  
  
  


Taka was pulling weeds outside, wearing a large sun hat that looked like it’d seen better days. They saw Oikawa coming, and motioned at the second pair of gloves sitting on the ground. 

“If you want to ask questions, you’ll have to help,” they told him. 

Oikawa did not complain and immediately put on the gloves and crouched next to them. He’d been trying to get Taka to talk all week, he wasn’t going to let some weeds get in the way. He could wash the stains off his jeans later. 

“What do you know about the spirits here?” Oikawa asked, pulling at the weeds. 

Taka pulled more weeds in silence, and for a moment Oikawa worried this was going to be a one-sided conversation. 

“They’re not all bad, as I’m sure you’ve realized by now,” Taka finally said. 

“What experiences have you had?”

“Too many to tell you.” They made a face that wasn’t quite a smile, but Oikawa figured that was as close as one as he was going to get. 

“Did you know any of them?” he asked instead. 

“Not in life, no.”

“But you do...now?”

“If you listen long enough, they talk to you. You just have to know what to look for.”

“What have they told you?”

“You ask a lot of questions,” Taka said pointedly. They removed their hat a moment to wipe the sweat off their brow. “They’ve told me they can’t leave.”

Oikawa looked down at the dry soil. It broke his heart a little that these spirits were trapped here, with so much pain and suffering. It was right. 

“It’s whatever is down in the cellar, isn’t it?” he asked solemnly. 

“Yes,” Taka sighed. “I think it’s some sort of demon.”

“An onryō?” 

“No,” Taka shook their head. “But I think it wants to be.”

Oikawa considered that for a moment. If it wanted to become an onryō, that would explain why it was seemingly causing the husbands to murder their wives and then themselves. With all that hatred, it would surely create a powerful spirit. But what was happening to the men’s spirits, then? Oikawa had seen all the women separately, but only that single, horrible figure down in the basement.

“It’s absorbing them,” he murmured in astonishment. 

“I think so too,” Taka said. 

“How come you’re telling me all this?” Oikawa couldn’t help but wonder, after Taka had been dodging him all week. Why tell him now?

“I can tell that you actually care for them,” Taka explained. “The others who have come before you, they just wanted to get famous. But I saw the way you looked at that picture.”

Taka then reached into their pocket and handed Oikawa an iron skeleton key. 

“The key to the cellar door,” Oikawa whispered, looking at Taka in astonishment. “You’re giving this to me?”

”They told me I can trust you.”

“They?”

Taka gave Oikawa a knowing look, and said no more. They pulled the rest of the weeds together in comfortable silence, and Oikawa devised a plan for how he could help the ghosts find peace. 

  
  
  


Oikawa spent the rest of the day researching. He read up on demonic entities, exorcisms, cleansing spells. There was a way to help here, there must be, and he would find it. 

He didn’t even notice when Kuroo came into the sitting room until he took a seat next to him on the couch. Oikawa looked up from his laptop and smiled as Kuroo waved a paper bag in front of him. 

“I brought steamed buns,” Kuroo said. “Thought you might be hungry.”

Only then did Oikawa realize he hadn’t eaten all day. He got so caught up in his work, time and hunger flew right by him. Now, with the scent of pork buns, he was starving. 

“You’re a lifesaver,” Oikawa gushed, taking one of the buns Kuroo offered him. 

“What are you up to?” Kuroo asked, leaning in to read his screen. “How to banish evil spirits?”

“This is my last night here, Kuro-chan,” Oikawa said. “I don’t want to leave here unless I’ve helped them.”

“Helped who?”

“The ghosts! They’re trapped here by that...thing.” Oikawa shuddered, remembering the mutilated figure in his dream. 

“Okay…” Kuroo mumbled, trying to follow. “So, what’s your plan?”

“I’m going to go down to the cellar and face it.” 

“How are you gonna do that? It’s locked, remember?”

Oikawa smiled, and immediately Kuroo knew it meant trouble. Reaching into his pocket, he held up the skeleton key for Kuroo to see. His smile grew as Kuroo’s eyes widened in realization. 

“Whoa, where did you get that?” Kuroo asked. 

“I have my ways,” Oikawa smirked. When Kuroo gave him a disbelieving look, he scoffed and crossed his arms. “I didn’t steal it! Taka gave it to me.”

“Huh,” Kuroo mumbled. After a few moments, he added, “This really is your last night.”

“Yeah…” Oikawa sighed. 

“It’s not going to be as fun here without you,” Kuroo gently nudged Oikawa with his shoulder playfully, but his voice was almost somber. 

“Are you saying you’re going to miss me, Kuro-chan?” Oikawa teased. 

“Yeah, I am,” Kuroo replied softly.

Oikawa stared at him in awe, his lips slightly parted. How could he feel like he had known this man his whole life after only a few days? How could it make his chest tight at the mere thought of never seeing him again?

“Do you want to come with me?”

It took Oikawa a moment to realize the words had come from his own mouth. Kuroo was staring back at him like he’d just thrown a bucket of water on him. When Oikawa’s own words caught up with himself, he started to come apart. 

“I mean, tonight, like, for my investigation, that is,” Oikawa rambled. “You don’t have to, I know you have another job, and I know you don’t believe in any of this stuff anyway, and—“

“Oika’a-kun,” Kuroo interrupted him, a sly smile spreading on his face. “Are you asking me on a date?”

Oikawa froze momentarily, like a deer in headlights. He couldn’t quite figure out if Kuroo was teasing him or not, but in the end, he decided to take a chance. 

“Yeah, I am.”

Kuroo’s smile grew wide, and he bit down on his lower lip in an attempt to stifle it. His cool boy persona was deteriorating, and it was all Oikawa’s fault. 

“I’m in.”

  
  
  


The two of them spent the next couple of hours looking up how to get rid of evil spirits from houses. Even though Kuroo didn't believe in it, he was an excellent researcher, and some of the information he provided was actually very helpful.

They had started with some space between them on the small couch, but eventually ended up pressed against each other. Oikawa told him about some of the things he’d done or seen done that had helped with smaller, less evil spirits. Kuroo teased him, just a bit, but committed it all to memory anyway. When he felt confident they had all the information they needed, Oikawa laid out his plan. 

First, they would get all the things they’d need to go down to the cellar; flashlights, batteries, a thermal camera. Then, they would use the key Taka gave them and make their way down. Once there, they’d locate the source of all the evil, and figure out how to destroy it. 

“I know it’s kind of sloppy, but I don’t have a lot to work with,” Oikawa admitted. 

“You know, this is the weirdest first date I have ever been on,” Kuroo said. 

Oikawa smiled and grabbed his hand, truly glad to be doing this with him. Kuroo returned it, and intertwined their fingers together. 

“Ready?” Oikawa asked. 

“As I’ll ever be,” Kuroo grinned, and let himself be led up to the third floor. 

  
  
  


As soon as they walked into Room Four, it was like walking through an invisible wall. The air felt tense, it was almost palpable. It made the fear in Oikawa’s gut claw the ascent up to his throat. The demon...it knew they were coming. 

“Oh!” Oikawa exclaimed. “We should ask for a blessing.”

He let go of Kuroo’s hand and knelt on the floor, placing the photo of Ohashi Matsu in front of himself. He’d come to think of it almost as an altar, a good luck charm, a holy item. He motioned for Kuroo to join him, and together they said silent prayers. 

‘Please, please watch over Kuroo, and me too,’ Oikawa prayed. ‘Please guide us on how to help you.’

The terrible feeling from earlier ebbed away slowly, and Oikawa didn’t open his eyes until it was backed into a corner. When he did, Kuroo was looking at him fondly. 

Oikawa went through his things and grabbed his flashlight, and gave Kuroo the backup he always brought with him. He divided the rest of his batteries between them, giving Kuroo two extra than himself. He readied the thermal camera, made sure it was charged and that he had extra batteries for it as well. 

“You don’t want to set up your other cameras?” Kuroo had asked. 

“No,” Oikawa told him. “That’s not what this is about.”

Lastly, Oikawa switched out his contacts and put on his glasses. He did this any time he would go somewhere that was likely to be dusty or otherwise dirty, so he wouldn’t get anything stuck in his eyes. 

“Don’t be mean,” Oikawa pouted when he saw Kuroo’s grin. 

“I’m not, I’m not!” he defended. “You look pretty cute, actually.”

Oikawa tried to hide the faint blush dusting his cheeks, but it was no use. The tension in the room had shifted again, but this time, it had nothing to do with evil spirits. 

“Ya know,” Kuroo said lowly, coming up close in front of him. “I think we should investigate the bed, just in case.”

“Oh, suddenly you’re so interested in investigating?” Oikawa asked, his eyes darting to Kuroo’s lips. 

“Yeah, I’m really interested,” Kuroo purred. 

They leaned into each other, their lips pressing softly together. Kuroo slipped his hands around Oikawa’s waist, delicately but with purpose, as though he’d been waiting his whole life for this moment and he didn’t want to mess it up. Oikawa rested one of his hands over Kuroo’s arm, and used the other to cradle his face closer. Despite circumstances, everything about this felt right. 

Kuroo gently nudged him back onto the bed and crawled on top of him. Oikawa combed his fingers through Kuroo’s messy hair and pulled him close. When they kissed again, Kuroo’s face kept rubbing Oikawa’s glasses. He paused to nudge them up so they’d be out of the way, smiling down at Oikawa before kissing him once more.

Oikawa knew this was perhaps not the best time for this, what with a demon lurking below them, waiting for them. But the way Kuroo’s lips opened and closed against his, the way Kuroo’s tongue licked into his mouth, it pushed all other thoughts away, until it was just the two of them. 

Oikawa slipped his hands under Kuroo’s shirt and gently raked his nails down his back. Kuroo hummed into his mouth, then let his full weight drop against Oikawa’s hips. He smiled into the kiss when he felt Oikawa’s hands slip into his back pockets, squeezing and pulling him against him. 

They’d only just started to get into it when the picture frame flew off the wall and across the room, shattering against the floor. They both gasped and looked toward the noise. 

“The fuck?” Kuroo mumbled, sitting up with Oikawa. 

The doors of the wardrobe in the corner flew open, causing them both to jump. Then came a loud banging, like someone was pounding their fists against the walls. One of the cameras left on a tripod tipped over and crashed against the floor. 

Kuroo looked at Oikawa with wide eyes, like he couldn’t quite believe what was happening. 

“We should probably go,” Oikawa said. 

They both hopped off the bed and grabbed their supplies, having to dodge random items being hurled at them from invisible hands. In the hall, they could hear more noises of destruction coming from the other rooms. The two of them practically flew down the stairs, skipping steps as the castrophony grew louder and louder. It was Oikawa who first noticed that something seemed off. 

“Wait,” he said, coming to a stop. 

“What?” Kuroo panted, sounding a little panicked. 

“How many flights of stairs did we go down?”

Kuroo blinked at him, then looked up into the corner desperately. “I don’t know? A few?”

“Shouldn’t we be on the ground floor by now?” Oikawa asked. 

They looked over the railing, and it appeared they were still on the third floor, but when they looked up, there was still another flight of stairs above them. 

“Oh, this is so fucked,” Kuroo muttered. “What do we do now?”

“We have to keep going,” Oikawa replied, and began to lead him down the steps once more. 

They weren’t sure how much time had passed, or how many flights of stairs they climbed down. Oikawa stopped counting after they got into the hundreds. 

They stopped to catch their breath, their calves were aching and their lungs were burning. 

“What the hell are we supposed to do?” Kuroo asked as he collapsed against the steps. “Are we gonna be stuck like this?”

Oikawa wished so badly he had the answers. He felt terrible for getting Kuroo wrapped up in all this, he never suspected that who they were going up against was this powerful. Oikawa placed his hand over the photo in his pocket. 

Please, please, please, he begged silently. The loop they were stuck in was starting to drive him mad, he knew the evil spirit was just toying with them. Perhaps it was trying to tire them out before they got to it, so it could easily take them out. Did that mean it saw them as a viable threat? Or was it just a twisted fuck who liked to play games?

“Face us, coward!” Oikawa shouted into the house, or wherever it was they were now. “This is what you want, isn’t it?”

There was a large rumble, and it shook Oikawa off his feet and into Kuroo. Coming from below was a deep growl, that grew louder and louder until it hurt their eardrums. Kuroo and Oikawa held onto each other and closed their eyes tightly, waiting for whatever was going to happen to happen. 

But then it was silent, like moving into the eye of a hurricane. They cautiously opened their eyes to find they were on the ground floor. They could see the receptionist desk, the sitting room. Everything looked normal. 

Oikawa stood up first and held out his hand for Kuroo, pulling him up on somewhat shaky feet. 

“Is it over?” Kuroo asked. 

“I think it’s just getting started,” Oikawa shook his head. “Kuro-chan...you don’t have to come with me.”

“What?” Kuroo squinted. 

“I would have never asked you to come if I knew this would happen, I’m sorry.” Oikawa squeezed Kuroo’s hand. He cared so much about him already, he didn’t want him to get hurt. 

“Oi… Tooru,” Kuroo said quietly, pulling him close until their foreheads were nearly touching. “I’m not leaving you. I plan to help you see this through, no matter what.”

“You barely know me…” Oikawa muttered. 

“But I want to,” Kuroo assured him. He smiled softly, a hint of playfulness laced with affection within it. “What, you think I’m gonna get scared off because I had to run down some never ending stairs? You’re not getting rid of me that easy.”

Oikawa could have hugged him, or kissed him, but he decided he’d save that for after. They still had a lot of work ahead of them, and now was not a time to get distracted. 

Fingers laced together, they headed toward the cellar. Oikawa took out the key Taka had given him, and unlocked the door. When it creaked open, the strong stench of dirt and sulfur hit them in the face. The air felt ice cold, and they could see their breath coming out in puffs. Oikawa gave Kuroo a reassuring squeeze, before letting go of his hand to hold the camera and his flashlight. 

The steps were made of stone and appeared wet, and the light coming from their flashlights seemed dimmer. Oikawa couldn’t tell if it was because the fresh batteries were draining, or if it was because down here everything was covered in a dark fog. The further down they went, the fainter the light became, until it only lit about a couple arms lengths ahead of them. 

They had to find the source. In their research, many talked about a source of power, whether it be an object, or a person. In this case, Oikawa assumed it was the former. 

Down in the cellar, they could just barely make out that it was a narrow hallway, splitting off into multiple directions. It was like a maze, it could’ve stretched for acres for all they knew. 

“Let’s stick together,” Oikawa said quietly. In the darkness he could just make out Kuroo nodding at him even though they were pressed up next to each other. 

They passed by a few rooms as they walked. Most were empty, some had pieces of wood lying about. Oikawa stopped walking when they came across a room with some barrels. 

“Hold on, let’s see if we can open them,” Oikawa said, walking carefully inside. 

“Are you nuts?” Kuroo asked, trailing closely behind him. 

“What if what we’re looking for is inside?” Oikawa shot back. He flashed his light around the room, and the way it flickered did not make him feel at ease. The longer they were down here, the more it felt like his bravery was being tested. Something was down here, he could feel it in his bones. The dark fog that seemed to fill this place was nearly suffocating, but he had to push forward. For Matsu and the others. 

His heart was pounding so loud as he went to open the barrel that he worried Kuroo could hear it. It was a bit harder to do while holding his flashlight and camera, but there was no way in hell he was letting them go for even a moment. Finally, after a few attempts, the lid popped off. 

The scent from earlier seemed stronger now, and it made them both gag. Oikawa flashed his light inside the barrel, and he could see a dark, thick liquid. There was a snap in the corner, like a branch being stepped on. Kuroo flashed his light frantically over in that direction, but there was nothing but some pieces of plywood. 

“Oika’a…” Kuroo whispered. 

Oikawa couldn’t look away from the barrel. The contents didn’t seem stagnant, it was as though something inside was swimming around. 

“Tooru…” Kuroo said this time, more urgently. 

Oikawa stared into the barrel, unable to look away, waiting. He pointed the camera inside, but the thermal readings just read cold. The dark liquid started to ripple smoothly, like something was trying to push up through it. And then, it stopped. Everything was quiet and still, they could only hear each other’s breathing.

Then, a hand shot out of the barrel at the same time one of the wooden planks flew across the room. 

It was so sudden that they both shouted and leapt back, running for the door. Something else was thrown and barely missed Kuroo’s head as it shattered against the wall. Kuroo ran faster than he’d ever run in his life, making his way back to the cellar door. They’d made so many twists and turns to get there, that after calming down from manic to just terrified, he finally stopped to look around. He felt his blood run cold. 

Where was Oikawa?

  
  
  


When Oikawa realized he’d gotten separated from Kuroo, it was already too late. He’d fallen right into a trap, and saw no immediate way of getting out of it. 

“Kuroo!” he called out, but he received no reply. The walls were thick, and they’d both run so fast in their distress, that now Oikawa had completely lost his bearings. He had no idea which direction he went, no idea how deep he had gone, no idea how to make his way back. The beam from his flashlight was the dimmest it had been, and he didn’t dare try and change the batteries out now. He had to hope it would last, so he wouldn’t be in total darkness. 

Oikawa looked to his camera to try and make his way forward. The picture was a bit static, but he could still make out the edges of the walls and corners. His hands were shaking, but he was determined not to give up. 

For Matsu and the others, he reminded himself. 

Suddenly, there was nowhere left to go. He seemed to have reached the end of the maze, and found himself in a nearly empty room. Nearly empty, because at the center was a rippling dark mass. Red eyes blinked into view, and then an arm, followed by another, and another, and another. Multiple mouths formed at the front, with pointed teeth and drooling onto the floor. 

Oikawa couldn’t scream, couldn’t swallow, could hardly breathe. He’d seen this thing before in his dreams, but now he was face to face with it. He had found the would-be onryō, or more likely, it had found him. 

Oikawa tried to remember his plan, and instinctively placed his hand on his pocket for support. It took everything in him to gather the courage to speak. 

“Leave,” Oikawa stuttered out quietly. 

The spirit made the worst sound Oikawa had ever heard; a dark, horrible kind of laughter that chilled him to his core. 

“Leave,” he repeated, this time a bit more sternly. “This is not your home.”

Something popped out of its frame and clank onto the floor. Oikawa looked before him and saw a knife. At first he thought it was meant to harm him, but he quickly realized with horror, it was meant for him to take. 

Distantly, he could hear Kuroo scream out for him. And he knew that the spirit wanted him to take the knife, find Kuroo, and repeat the process of all the others before him. 

“No,” Oikawa shook. “No.”

Again, that horrible laugh, echoed with a sort of growl. Oikawa felt something then, something came over him. It was dark, and it was angry. 

Oikawa grit his teeth and dropped the camera and flashlight. He clenched his fists so tightly his nails cut into his palms. He seethed in rage. 

Fucking Kuroo, how could he leave him like this? Did he not care about him? Did he want Oikawa to suffer? This was all a trick, Kuroo tricked him into coming down here. Kuroo seduced him, he didn’t like him, didn't love him. Fuck him, fuck this house, fuck everyone. 

No. Oikawa shook his head, as though he was trying to shake out these intrusive thoughts that were not his own. He placed his hand on his pocket again, remembered Matsu’s smile, remembered Kuroo’s smile, remembered his friends and his family, remembered everything he’d ever cared about or loved. 

The disfigured creature before him roared. The knife spun on the floor, and now was flying towards him. Oikawa threw his arms up in defense, but the cutting edge of the blade never came. 

When Oikawa opened his eyes, a pale, beautiful woman was standing in front of him, holding the knife away from him. He knew immediately that this was the spirit of Ohashi Matsu. But it wasn’t just her; surrounding him were also the other spirits of the women who’d had their lives taken here. 

“Give him to us,” the mouths of the demon spoke. 

“Leave,” Matsu said, echoing Oikawa’s words. “This is not your home.”

“We are you, you are us,” the demon said. 

“Leave,” the spirits repeated together. 

They all stared at each other, neither side backing down. It was silent, still, and tense. For a moment Oikawa forgot to breathe, and in the next he wished he hadn’t. 

With a snap, Oikawa was lifted off the ground and his windpipe crushed. He thrashed and gasped for air, clawing at his neck to no avail. He watched helplessly as the spirits seemed to collide against each other, light and dark cutting into each other. 

The sound they made was like a glacier breaking apart. It filled the room and was colder than anything Oikawa had ever felt. All the while, he still struggled to breathe. His vision started to blur, and he could feel himself slipping. 

Leave, you aren’t welcome here, this is not your home, leave, leave, leave. Oikawa wished he could shout those words, but he could only choke on them. He thought again of everyone important to him. He thought of love. 

Instead of sending out the hate and fear in his heart and feeding the dark entity before him, he decided to send love to the yūrei. As the darkness began to close in, he thought of love. 

The next thing he knew, Oikawa fell into a heap onto the floor, gasping for air as his throat was released. He rolled over to his hands and knees and coughed until he could breathe normally again. Wiping the tears from his face, he adjusted his glasses and looked around the room. 

The first thing he noticed was how much lighter it seemed. His flashlight, that was lying on the floor, was shining at full power. The air felt easier to breathe, it didn’t feel like he was in a fog or trapped underwater. The next thing he noticed was the black pile of sludge on the floor. It was stagnant, and somehow he knew, it was over. 

Oikawa picked up his camera and his flashlight, walked out of the room, and right into Kuroo. 

“Tooru!” Kuroo shouted, pulling him into a tight embrace. “Oh my god, I thought I lost you, are you okay?”

Oikawa wrapped his arms around Kuroo as best he could and just breathed. He forgot what it felt like to be cared for like this, to care for someone else like this. 

“I think so,” Oikawa replied finally, his voice raspy. “Are you? What happened?”

“Yeah, yeah I’m okay.” Kuroo pulled away, and even though it was still dark, Oikawa could see his smile. “After we got separated, I started running around trying to find you. Then, and I know how crazy this sounds, I swear I saw a woman down here, and I followed her until...I found you.”

Oikawa smiled. “Yeah, that does sound crazy.”

Kuroo chuckled tiredly, and hugged him again. 

“I’m so glad you’re okay,” he said. 

“Me too.”

“What happened with you?”

“I’ll tell you when we’re out of here, but it’s all over now,” Oikawa said softly. He slipped his arm around Kuroo’s waist, leaning into him when Kuroo wrapped his arm around his shoulder. 

Somehow, finding the cellar door again was easier than they thought it would be. With all the running around they did earlier, the cellar should have been huge, but after turning a corner the door came into their view. They were too exhausted and too relieved to complain about it. 

As soon as they got upstairs, they collapsed onto the tiny couch in the sitting room. Their long limbs tangled around each other and hung off the edge. It wasn’t very comfortable, but they were too tired to care. They were safe, they had each other, the demon was gone; that was all they needed to fall into a peaceful sleep. 

  
  
  


Oikawa rubbed at his neck, which now had a knot from how he’d slept last night. Kuroo didn’t look like he’d slept any better, but he still managed to keep that grin on his face. 

Sute had found them on the couch when they got in for their shift. Together with Den, Kana, and even Taka, they all relentlessly teased them about it. Oikawa’s cheeks still felt warm, but he knew it came from affection. Kuroo even found his missing headphones, all neatly wrapped in one of the desk drawers. The entire house felt different, and everyone could feel it. The happiness and relief was infectious, and they were all in high spirits. 

Oikawa set his bags on the floor to give everyone a hug goodbye. He returned the key to Taka discreetly, who thanked him for what he’d done. When it came down to Kuroo, everyone else left silently to give them a moment alone. 

“Hey,” Kuroo smiled.

“Hey,” Oikawa smiled back. 

“So…I was thinking,” Kuroo said nervously. “I’m gonna miss getting to bug you all the time, so can I maybe get your number?”

“We made out and fought a demon, and you’re nervous about asking me for my number?” Oikawa teased. He pulled out his phone, and put Kuroo’s number into his phone with a black heart emoji. 

“You have to send me those pictures, okay?” Kuroo told him. 

“Anything else?” Oikawa chuckled. 

“Um, actually,” Kuroo looked away, a dusty rose painting his cheeks. “I know you work alone, but, let me know if you ever want someone to tag along on one of your adventures.”

Oikawa pulled Kuroo in and pressed a deep kiss to his mouth. Kuroo was shocked for only a moment before responding with equal fervor. 

“Absolutely,” Oikawa replied breathlessly. 

They kissed a few more times before Oikawa had to remind Kuroo he had a train he really needed to catch. Reluctantly they parted, and Oikawa headed for the door. 

He paused at the portrait wall to look at all the stoic faces. He pulled out the photo still in his pocket, and placed it on the console table beneath them. He bowed, then walked out the front door. 

Everything was different now, not just inside the house, but in Oikawa’s life and his heart. He just knew that good things were to come, and he had Matsu, and all the Ohashis to thank for it. He smiled to himself as he saw a white poppy just beginning to bloom in the garden.

**Author's Note:**

> step 1: hunt ghosts  
> step 2: flirt with the hot receptionist  
> step 3: nearly die  
> step 4: profit 
> 
> thanks so much for reading, i had a lot of fun with this one. comments and kudos are how i pay the rent in my head.
> 
> fakeanimeboi on twitter


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